The prior art is replete with various straining and draining devices. Some are specific to a particular food items (for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. Des. 278,014 and Des. 314,119 teach watermelon trays) and some are specific to a particular type of container (for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,995,544 and 5,902,481 teach devices for draining a standard canned food can). Other prior art devices include general purpose serving trays such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,147,277; 5,139,166; and 6,168,813.
While these and other devices make a contribution to the serving and drain tray art, they are disadvantageous for several reasons including that they are limited to a specific function. A person, for example, that desires to drain canned goods, drain food during preparation (including cooking), marinate food items, or serve food in a manner that provides drainage would have to obtain different prior art devices for each of these functions. The result is added expense in purchasing each of these different articles and added clutter in the kitchen.
A need thus exists for a drain and serving tray assembly that provides multiple functions related to draining, serving, cooking and/or storage of various food items.